Tag Archives: Electablog

So in the middle of September, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law Medicaid expansion for his state–the third state to expand Medicaid per the Affordable Care Act that is led by by both a Republican governor and legislature. It is estimated that the expansion will cover up to 470,000 Michiganders, providing them with access to primary care instead of depending on emergency room visits.

“This is about the health of fellow Michiganders,” Snyder said at the time. “The right answer is not to talk about politics, but to talk about our family of 10 million people.”

But that didn’t stop Republicans in the Michigan senate from getting petty and forcing a delay in the implementation such their nearly half a million fellow Michiganders will have to wait until April for the measure to go into effect.

This week, a couple of Democrats introduced House Bill 5114. It reads in full:

Sec. 7a. Until medicaid benefits in this state are extended as provided in section 105d of the social welfare act, 1939 PA 280, MCL 400.105d, state funds shall not be expended to provide health benefits to members of this state’s legislature, the governor, or the lieutenant governor.

I can’t find one thing wrong with this other than it penalizes the good lawmakers who voted FOR immediate effect on Medicaid expansion. The rest of them can suffer right along with all the working poor who they are forcing to wait for six months before they could obtain health coverage. It would serve them right.